Are we there Yeti?

Do I need a 4WD? Probably not. An AWD? Maybe. If so, would I spend about $42,000 - including taxes and charges - to get a Skoda Yeti into my garage at home? And that’s the stumbling block.

I’m 150km out of Alice Springs at a place called Boggy Hole - no joke - along with 22 other motoring writers from Australian publications. The 24th missed the plane.

The Yeti 103TDI AWD has made it the 30-odd kilometres from the highway, along a thin gravel ribbon visited by wild horses, past a solitary house in the middle of nowhere that appears to be a used car lot for damaged vehicle, and down onto the river bed. There’s 250mm diameter rocks of all colours, smaller pebbles, lots of river sand and pockets of the fine talc-like sand that gets caught in the hollows of tree trunks and invites 4WDs in to play. There is the occasional waterhole and alternating sections of rocks and soft sand, marked by the tracks of dozens of vehicles before.

Skoda enlisted a team of experts to set up 24 tents, arrange a campsite fire and dining tables, brought in chefs with tall white hats that looked out of place against the rugged walls of the gorges behind us, and even had an entertaining expert who spoke of the region. For outsiders, it’s an odd experience. For motoring writers, it’s a pleasant divergence before the chat (and varying points of view) start about the test vehicle - the one we’re all here to write about.

It’s warm - about 30C - with 35C on the cards. Through this harsh land comes the 12 Yetis along with a support crew in three Volkswagen Amaroks loaded with recovery gear. That should have been the first hint.

Some writers didn’t have much of a clue about driving a small AWD - with no low range gearbox, low-profile tyres and a paltry 180mm ground clearance - in sand. They were the first to get stuck.

I only participated in two recoveries and it’s not a lot of fun. Fun is having a cold drink in a deck chair at the end of the day. Fun is laughter around the campfire after the sun goes home.

Pushing and digging out a SUV isn’t fun and that’s when it hit me that I don’t want to do this. So for me, if I bought a Yeti, I’d buy the cheaper 2WD and save about $9000. I wouldn’t go off the road but I would be perfectly hapy with the amazing flexibility and the fuel-efficient buzz of the 1.2-litre turbo-petrol engine.

Sometimes we can get too caught up in the imaginary adventure.